Indoctrination?

[Beeth]

People are usually against indoctrination, but isn't everything a form of indoctrination? When we are born, our minds are blank slates, and then slowly we acquire knowledge, form opinions etc. in a way, we are like computers being programmed by society, experiences, and so on.

My point is, whether or not we like it, we are conditioned in certain ways. So shouldn't we make sure that people are conditioned to be progressive rather than fight against conditioning itself? I see people are allergic to the word 'indoctrination', so much so that almost everything is brushed aside as indoctrination, propaganda, and so on. So while the cappie succeeds in his indoctrination - which is why most people are the way they are - we waste time explaining why indoctrination is wrong which, though good in itself, doesn't produce any tangible effect.

I can't type more, since it's annoying to type on this machine, but I hope people understand what I am trying to say. It is like running a race. While we just stand and argue about how competition is wrong, others are running fast leaving us behind.

[campesino]

I'm all for indoctrination. I have no qualms with it and is a very good tool for spreading communist thought.

[The_Red_Spark]

I think the proper strategic approach is to meet the enemy in every possible way. To have an answer for every tactic he uses to oppress us. Indoctrination as you said is present in everything and is everywhere in various forms with various content. It further defines each culture and subculture from the position of each particular worldview or ideological vantage point. It ultimately results in the creation of an assimilated or common worldview among each cultural identity.

In the final analysis it results in an ideological battle for moral or scientific supremacy. Or it helps foster a new worldview or ideology that is superior in context to the previous worldviews. In our case it is indoctrination that seeks to establish class consciousness and to foster solidarity amongst the masses that will result in a progressive change for society that makes democracy and equality of all the primary focal point for society.

For that reason I think it is right to combat the indoctrination practiced by bourgeois capitalism, but that doesn't negate the need to establish class consciousness through a proper course of indoctrination on our behalf. In other words indoctrination in and of itself is not wrong or immoral if the content is based on proper principles and serves the greater good of all who undergo the said indoctrination.

Indoctrination is neutral until until it is given substance through content. Only after it is given content can it be judged right or wrong, true or false, moral or immoral. I hope this helps to answer your question.:)

[Lokomotive293]

I'm all for indoctrination. I have no qualms with it and is a very good tool for spreading communist thought.

The word has a kind of negative connotation to it, but the OP is right. There also is this amazing quote:


It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.

[Q]

People are usually against indoctrination, but isn't everything a form of indoctrination? When we are born, our minds are blank slates, and then slowly we acquire knowledge, form opinions etc. in a way, we are like computers being programmed by society, experiences, and so on.

My point is, whether or not we like it, we are conditioned in certain ways. So shouldn't we make sure that people are conditioned to be progressive rather than fight against conditioning itself? I see people are allergic to the word 'indoctrination', so much so that almost everything is brushed aside as indoctrination, propaganda, and so on. So while the cappie succeeds in his indoctrination - which is why most people are the way they are - we waste time explaining why indoctrination is wrong which, though good in itself, doesn't produce any tangible effect.

I can't type more, since it's annoying to type on this machine, but I hope people understand what I am trying to say. It is like running a race. While we just stand and argue about how competition is wrong, others are running fast leaving us behind.

Countering the effects of capitalist cultural hegemony is one of the reasons our class needs its own explicit culture. Alternative culture should be an integral part of our movement. And I would argue that it would be the anti-thesis of indoctrination we see everywhere in capitalism. It would strive to empower our class and shape it into a potential ruling class.

[Comrade Samuel]

You raise a very good point and while I agree that indoctrination is something we should be doing I would like to say its seems to me like people are actualy indoctrinating themselves these days. How? It would appear that since cold war hystria is dieing down world wide young people are now, more than ever willing to accept Marxist ideas and principals (without actualy knowing that they are) because they are not being constantly hit with messages about "the evils of communism" left and right. If things keep going like this (21 years ago Marxism was viewed as the ultimate evil in the western world whereas today it's not demonized by absolutely everybody and may actualy be on the rise) then it would seem likely that sympathies would continue to grow at this rate until everybody is waving red banners and screaming about revolution and in the relatively near future as well right?

Forgive me if this doesent make much sense, just needed to get it off my chest...

[Blake's Baby]

Of course everything is indoctrination.

The ruling ideas of any epoch are the ideas of the ruling class, so everything we are exposed to through popular/mass culture has to conform to the ideology of the bourgeoisie. That's why it's so difficult for ideas that go against the status quo to attain an airing - unless they are the pet project of a particualr faction of the bourgeoisie (which admitedly isn't monolithic in its understanding of its own interests) it's hard to get airtime/column inches.

This explains why some people claimn to be 'against politics' and yet are right-wing. The charge of 'bringing politics into things' is always levelled at the left, by the right, who assume (or pretend) that they are doing things 'without politics' becuse their politics are at the heart of culture and are implicit in our understanding.

I'm not sure 'Marxism was viewed as the ultimate evil in the western world...' 21 years ago however, as Vladimir Marakov claims. Maybe, viewed as the ultimate evil in Texas. Not so much in that slightly pink continent north of Africa. Lots of Marxist professors, union leaders, students, etc in Europe 21 years ago (probably more than there are now), some of them had even been in governments.